Now that congestion pricing is in effect, drivers are discovering a Queensboro Bridge quirk that charges them a toll even if they don’t want to enter the area south of 60th Street — and they’re furious.
Drivers entering Manhattan from Queens who take the lower route and head north briefly cross 60th Street, meaning they still have to pay the $9 daytime toll. Similarly, drivers leaving Manhattan from the Upper East Side must enter the 59th Street area to use the Queensboro Bridge, which also costs them $9 during the day.
“It’s a sneaky device,” East Queens pilot Jonathan Kahn told Gothamist.
Kahn often goes to hospitals in the northern area for medical appointments and doesn’t understand why he’s being charged a toll just for crossing 60th Street.
“This is sleight of hand by a public agency,” he said.
Gothamist first reported in April on the different toll scenarios for drivers on the upper and lower roads of the Queensboro Bridge. The tolls were activated earlier this month and resulted in 43,000 fewer drivers on the roads each weekday, according to preliminary MTA data released Monday.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said Friday he had heard complaints like Kahn’s and called on the MTA to change tolls around the bridge.
“People say it’s the most expensive block in Manhattan,” he told Gothamist. “You literally can’t get to the bridge without this road.”
MTA officials said there was nothing they could do about the Queensboro Bridge problems. The 2019 state law that authorizes the agency to toll drivers in Manhattan specifies the geography of the toll zone. State lawmakers should change the law.
“The law passed five years ago that established the Congestion Reduction Zone set the limit in Manhattan south of 60th Street inclusive, excluding FDR Drive and the West Side Highway. The locations of the toll points line up exactly,” MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan wrote in a statement.
Williams, who supports the toll program, thinks more can be done.
“There’s also a human element to how you apply it that can determine the location of the (toll) camera,” he said.
Williams also said there should be better signage in Queens to inform drivers about toll roads.
